Whiffletree.



G. GULLI.

WHIFFLETREB.

APPLIOATION HLED SEPT. e, 1911.

1,061,166. Patented May 6,1913.

620g@ fullo' ,I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE ULLLOF MILLSTADT, ILLINOIS.

WHIFFLETREE.

To al fr0/mm t may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE (hmm, a citizen of the United States, residing at Millstadt, in the county of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Whittletrees, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to whitiletrees adapted especially to be used in connection with plows, cultivators and other agricultural implement-s when the same are used in vineyards, orchards or similar places or adjacent to picket or other fences which are liable to become injured by the action of ordinary whitletrees rubbing thereagainst.

The invention has for its object to produce a whiilletree of simple and improved construction and of arcuate form so as to be readily and harmlessly guided past trees and other obstructions, the same being provided adjacent to the ends thereof with resilient rollers which will pass by trees without barking the same and pass other obstructions without injury thereto.

With t-hese and other ends in view which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the improved construction and novel arrangement and combination of parts which will be hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing has been illustrated a simple and preferred form of the invention, it being, however, understood that no limitation is necessarily made to the precise structural details therein exhibited, but that changes, alterations and modifications within the scope of the claim may be resorted to when desired.

In the clrawing,-Figure 1 is a top plan view of a whiiiletree constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view showing the same applied to a plow. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view taken on the line 8-3 in Fig. l.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference.

The improved whiiiletree consists of an arcuate member 1 extending through an arc of a proximately 180 degrees, said arcuate mem er being reinforced by a cross bar or truss 2. The member 1. also has an enlargement 3 disposed midway between the ends thereof and provided with an aperture 4 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 6, 1913.

Application filed September 6, 1911. Serial No. 647,844.

for the reception of a clevis or other member, whereby it may be applied to the beam ot' a plow, as shown at 5 in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

The terminal ends of the arcuate member l are formed with horizontal recesses G which are vertically apertured for the passage of pins 7 upon which rollers R are journaled, each of said rollers being composed of a disk 8 of rubber or equivalent resilient material which is clamped securely between a pair of metallic washers 9, 9. The ends of the pivotal pins 7 are connected together by means of a flexible member such as a chain 10 affording means for the attachment of draft. The resilient disks 8 of the rollers are made of a diameter sufficiently exceeding the width of the terminal ends of the arcuate member l to positively prevent the latf ter from directly engaging trees and similar obstructions which instead will be engaged by the said resilient rollers wit-hout material injury thereto.

The washers 9 are each provided on its external face, that is to say, ou the upper face of the upper washer and ou the lower face of the bottom washer, with a central boss or projection 12, said bosses engaging the adjacent walls or faces of the recess 6, thereby relieving the greater portion of thc face of each washer from frictional contact with the wall or face of the recess, and thereby improving and facilitating the operation of the deviice.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawing hereto annexed, the operation and advantages of the invention will be readily understood. It will be seen that the resilient rollers of the improved device by contacting with the trunks of trees and similar obstructions will prevent injury to such obstructions such as would likely be caused by direct contact with an ordinary whiifletree, thus preventing trees from being barked and injured and fences and the like from being disiigured.

Having thus described the invention,wh`at is claimed as new, is

A whitiietree comprising an arcuate body having terminal horizontal recesses intersected by vertical apertures, bolts mounted within said apertures, a rotary buffer mem ber mounted upon the bolt within each te1' minal reo-ess, the outer periphery of each of In testimony whereof I affix my signature Said buffer members projecting outwardly. in presence of two witnesses. past the side faces and correspondinv end face of the whitietree body, and dratt at- GEORGE CULLI' taching means connected to the extremities Witnesses:

of each pvot boit and adapted to extend GEORGE SANTI-IOFF,

forwardly therefrom. PHIL SGHMIDT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

